Does anyone know why there’s no desire to see a working standard (protocol) for calendar/tasks?
It’s clear that CalDAV doesn’t function consistently across devices (and does seem to be dying as a standard). If you work across different devices/OS it’s virtually impossible to get things set up seamlessly. Companies and developers of task apps seem happy to create silos and not look at interoperability.
If you want to self-host, it’s too hard to do this and you really are limited to a tiny number of options.
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Guess I was always using the right combination of apps. Never had any problems with CalDAV and CardDAV. Except for frustration at outright missing support.
What apps are you using?
Also using caldav and I’m missing a decent macos client and/or web facing client I can self host for tasks.
Nextcloud as the server and DAVx⁵ with Fossify Calendar as the client on my phone. On my laptop Kontact, but I haven’t looked at that in ages, so it could be in shambles for all I know. I think I’ve also used Thunderbird with some plugin.
And my Fritzbox router uses CardDAV to populate the phonebook of all connected phones.
Thunderbird doesn’t even need a plugin. Just “add new calendar” > “on the network” > enter the URL. Done.
Same for contacts.
BusyCal as a macOS client and baikal as a server.
Those two are reliable as can be. BusyCal is a great app with a responsive developer and can connect to virtually anything.
As to the topic of this post, despite the above, I’m trying to move away from CalDAV and CardDAV, the latter has poor support on most mobile platforms in the way I want to use it. I also am trying to reduce self hosted platforms I maintain, which is currently a high number.
You are probably the exception rather than the rule. Nextcloud, in my experience, is the only one that seems to work fairly well. Just look at the Issues on Github for apps that try to use CalDAV.
I also haven’t had issues with my self-hosted Nextcloud, DAVx, and Fossify Calendar. Has worked without hiccups for me.
Can confirm. I’m basically running the same setup except I’m using a managed Nextcloud instance cuz I currently can’t self host.
Yep, same.
Huh?
I’ve been running radicle for a while to sync my desktop and mobile calenders without any hiccups ever.
I also don’t get this. I run baikal and sync my server, Linux PCs, and iPhone. Calendar, tasks, and contacts
I have tried hard to get Baikal to work across devices and had to admit defeat (works on some, not on others). I am running CalDAV most successfully using Nextcloud.
Which didn’t it work on? I got Baikal to work on all but I needed to edit dns for it specifically. Nextcloud caldav doesn’t work with iOS to my knowledge.
I have Nextcloud CalDAV working on iOS (the trick is to set up calendar and tasks separately). I can’t get Baikal Calendar to sync on ios.
This is what I was trying to get at: setting up calendar and task SHOULD be straightfoward and work across devices and OSes. It’s not.
iOS used to be an absolute pain in the ass. Had to scratch my head for several days a few years ago. I believe it was iOS 15. Forcing SSL and self-signed certs with some odd flags finally did it but it was not straightforward. Good luck reading logs on an iPad. Unfortunately I don’t remember any specifics.
Other than that I’ve had zero issues with Baikal for the last couple of years. Roughly 15 devices (iOS, Android, Windows, Linux), and 5 users each with multiple calendars, tasks, contacts, notes etc. and everything just works. DAVx is excellent if you use Android as CalDAV isn’t natively supported for some reason.
But I get your point. CalDAV as a standard has always felt a bit… Janky? It never left the early 2000s. So setting up a CalDAV server in 2024 isn’t particularly difficult but everyone wants their own implementation. And your server/client combo probably require you to find some obscure forum post from 2009 and reading the man pages several times before you find that one specific fucking legacy parameter in some config file that has to be set.
You could always set up your own Exchange server though if you’re a true masochist.
And your server/client combo probably require you to find some obscure forum post from 2009 and reading the man pages several times before you find that one specific fucking legacy parameter in some config file that has to be set.
100%
True!
Another one selfhosting contacts, calendar, notes and so on with that non-interoperable protocol.
And for the shake of honesty I need to say that while doable it is true that the situation could be highly improved with a lot of non standard stuff that private apps are implementing outside of the standard compliance
What’s your set up with CalDav? What devices do you run it on?
I use the tchapi docker image for the caldav server (die to the LDAP support for the user Auth) and davx5 for the android integration.
In Desktop thunderbird already have a native integration and with iPhone is also working fine.
No problems so far in almost a year, they work reliable and smooth. The only point I somehow miss is the lack of push notifications from the server to the devices, but it is not a deal breaker from me
You should look at JTX Board. It’s associated with DAVx5 and they do the vjournal and vtodo standards. They have a list of services that support it. https://jtx.techbee.at/sync-with-davx5
Thank you. This is the sort of thing I was looking for .
- Radicale hosts my calendars and contacts
- zero-hassle setup in Thunderbird for both of those things
- DAVx on Android works seamlessly for calendar and contacts Sync
- Fossify calendar to view, edit calendar
- default contact app for contacts
- Infcloud as a web frontend for Radicale. Not pretty, but absolutely functional (and I hardly ever need it thanks to Android calendar app / Thunderbird)
Haven’t tried todo lists yet, but I would imagine they are similarly hassle-free.
The only annoyance I have is that DAVx is required at all, but I’d suspect that’s an Android/Google issue? IDK.
But anyways, this setup works flawlessly for me.
Proton Calendar is pretty solid but obviously have to use their app as it is encrypted
Is there a bridge like they have for IMAP btw?
For calendar? Not that I am aware of
I have to join the choir, what do you mean dying and doesn’t work? If proprietary apps don’t support it, it’s just because it’s one of the best ways to lock people in.
It’s more than the “proprietary apps”. It’s harder than it should be to simply sync calendar and tasks. The one that seems to work the most effectively is Nextcloud. By now there should be straightforward, easy to use (to host) solitions that just work.
I could follow it a bit. CalDAV is mostly nerd stuff. And proprietary apps use to disallow CalDav to sell their own stuff. Best example: M$ Outlook doesn’t support CalDAV natively. You can only add them as only read, or use third party addons. And why? Because they want you to buy 365.
Look at it as the average Bob: wow you can sync all your contacts and Calenders and Tasks to every device? That must be expensive!
Never had an issue with caldav and cardav. Maybe you are using broken servers or clients?
Even notes can be done efficiently on those standards…
But, hey, I am using only FOSS server and clients, maybe you referring to proprietary ones? You know, those who are mare by vendors who have no interest in interoperability?
What is your foss server set up?
(I do actually run an ok calDAV using Next Cloud. I’m suggesting that things should be much easier to use across different OSes and apps and devices).
Gentoo linux with Radicale on bare metal. Radicale is behind NGINX reverse proxy that slaps HTTPS and authelia redirect for authentication on top.
And of course i use DAV5X on android.
Impressive. Was it an easy set-up (the redirect and authentication in particular?)
I keep a wiki on all that I do.
This is the page on radicale: here
This is the more general page on reverse proxy here
And so on, Check the sidebar.
I mostly write it so that in future I remember what I did and how I did it, but I use some unusual techniques compared to the mainstream point of view from this community, so keep that in mind.
Thank you for sharing those links. I’ve just spent some time reading pages on your wiki. It’s great. You write very clealy about each tool/service. How you’ve done it seems an excellent way of reflecting on what you do. I’ll be consulting your wiki in future. I’m going to follow your guidance on setting up a reverse proxy as a start.
Than you for your very appreciated feedback. Feel free to DM/PM me for anything related.
The only issues I ever encountered when it came to caldav and webdav is when I want to integrate them in Apple or Microsoft Outlook. I have not had any issues on my android phones, Linux Laptops or even the Windows 10 Calendar App.
Google etesync. It has everything you need and light weight and written in modern languages, python. It even supports e2e encryption and open source hosting option. You are welcome.
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Hmmm… I quickly emcountered guides for “workarounds” when DAV doesn’t work.
Probably because there is no interest in open standards. I find ical is more a file format than a transport format, an actual standard protocol around it would be great. Although I suspect that the “transport” was always supposed to be email.
